Otiose
Pronunciation
- RP IPA: /ˈəʊ.ʃi.əʊs/ or
- US IPA: /ˈoʊ.ʃi.oʊs/ or
Origin
From Latin ÅtiÅsus ("idle"), from Åtium ("ease")
Full definition of otiose
Adjective
otiose
- Resulting in no effect.
- Reluctant to work or to exert oneself.
- Having no reason for being (raison d’être); having no point, reason, or purpose.
- 1895, Robert Louis Stevenson, , ch 3On Friday morning, I had to be at my house affairs before seven; and they kept me in Apia till past ten, disputing, and consulting about brick and stone and native and hydraulic lime, and cement and sand, and all sorts of otiose details about the chimney – just what I fled from in my father’s office twenty years ago;
- 1969, G. R. Elton, The Practice of History, Neither the fact that the debates can become otiose, nor their zeal in so often simply echoing the points made in the past, need, however, lead one to suppose that the proper cure is silence.
Synonyms
- resulting in no effect: futile, ineffective
- reluctant to work: indolent, lazy, sluggish
- having no reason or purpose: superfluous, irrelevant, pointless
Antonyms
- resulting in no effect: productive, useful
- reluctant to work: hardworking
- having no reason or purpose: essential, necessary